Abstract
This study aimed to characterize the HPV infection status in adolescents and young university women in Portugal. The distribution of HPV genotypes was evaluated by PCR DNA genotyping after self-sampling collection from 435 women of exfoliated cervical cells using a commercial kit. We observed an overall frequency of HPV infection of 11.5%. Furthermore, HPV DNA prevalence was 16.6% in those young women that self-declared as sexually active. The more frequently detected HPV types were 31, 16, 53, and 61. Statistical analysis identified median age (OR = 3.56; P = 0.001), the number of lifetime sexual partners (OR = 4.50; P < 0.001), and years of sexual activity (OR = 2.36; P = 0.008) as risk factors for HPV acquisition. Hence, our study revealed that oncogenic HPV infection is common in young asymptomatic women Portuguese women, with a history of 2–5 sexual partners and over 2 year of sexual activity. Moreover, these results demonstrate that HPV detection performed in self-collected samples may be important to appraise better preventive strategies and to monitorize the influence of vaccination programmes within different populations.
Highlights
Genital Human papillomavirus (HPV) is highly prevalent in sexually active women
We have considered only women who referred to have initiated sexual activity (n = 277), where HPV infection had a prevalence of 16.6% (46/277) (Table 2)
HPV infection was analyzed according to age, age of first menarche, age of first sexual intercourse, number of years after first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, educational level, and HPV vaccination status (Table 2)
Summary
Genital Human papillomavirus (HPV) is highly prevalent in sexually active women. This infection has been established as the etiological agents of genital warts and squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix, and only certain types of HPVs are able to induce cervical cancer development [1,2,3].Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality by cancer with approximately 495 000 women newly diagnosed each year [4]. Genital Human papillomavirus (HPV) is highly prevalent in sexually active women. This infection has been established as the etiological agents of genital warts and squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix, and only certain types of HPVs are able to induce cervical cancer development [1,2,3]. Adolescents and young-adult women are more vulnerable to HPV infection. These observations are based on biological/physiological differences in the cervical epithelium. It is accepted that persistent infection by high-risk HPVs is Journal of Oncology a necessary but nonsufficient condition for the development of cervical cancer [8]
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